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Contents 1 The Perfect Tense (Le Passé Composé) 1.1 Avoir 1.1.1 Forming the past participle 1.2 être 1.2.1 Verbs which take être as the auxiliary verb 1.2.2 Reflexive verbs 1.2.3 Agreements 1.3 Irregular past participles 2 Comments

The Perfect Tense (Le Passé Composé)

Avoir

Most verbs take the form of "avoir":

j’ai + past participle

tu as + past participle

il/elle/on a + past participle

nous avons + past participle

vous avez + past participle

ils/elles ont + past participle

Forming the past participle

The past participle is formed by removing the ending from the nous form of the verb in the present tense (forming the stem of the verb), and adding "é" (for -er verbs), "i" (for -ir verbs), or "u" (for -re verbs).

être

Certain verbs, however, use "être":

je suis + past participle

tu es + past participle

il/elle/on est + past participle

nous sommes + past participle

vous êtes + past participle

ils/elles sont + past participle

Verbs which take être as the auxiliary verb

Mourir (past participle = mort)

Sortir

Partir

Venir

Aller

Naître (past participle = né)

Descendre

Entrer

Retourner

Tomber

Rester

Arriver

Monter

Passer

(verbs which end in the above also take être, such as devenir, rentrer).

NB. The past participle must agree when the auxiliary verb takes être. In addition, all reflexive verbs take être, and must agree.

Reflexive verbs

The format for reflexive verbs in the perfect tense is: personal pronoun (je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles) + reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) + être + past participle.

'e.g. je me suis lavé

Agreements

masculine - no change

feminine - add “e”

masculine plural - add “s”

feminine plural - add “es”

The only exception is "mourir", the past participle of which is mort in all cases. It is invariable.

Irregular past participles

Some verbs have irregular past participles:

avoir: eu

boire: bu

connâitre: connu

croire: cru

devoir: du

dire: dit

écrire: écrit

être: été

falloir: fallu

faire: fait

lire: lu

mettre: mis

ouvrir: ouvert

pleuvoir: plu

prendre: pris (also, Comprendre: compris and Apprendre: appris)

pouvoir: pu

recevoir: reçu

rire: ri

savoir: su

suivre: suivi

tenir: tenu

vivre: vécu

voir: vu

vouloir: voulou

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